Salt Lake's The Empty Head makes for a perfect place to unwind
Friday night in the joyous city is all kinds of lively. As another sultry, hectic work week comes to an end, we decided to beat the heat by exploring yet another loungebar in Sector V called The Empty Head.
Decorated with wooden panels, a glass ceiling and life-sized masquerade masks and paintings, The Empty Head is a perfect place to chill with your friends and family and groove on the dance floor with live music and DJs all over the place. What we loved about this differently done-up space coowned by Rudra Prasad Paul, Sweety Boland and Mrinal Kanti Bhunla, is its dining area dotted with enclosed booths separated by metal beads embedded with vivid paintings. The well-lit private dining lounge in gold and red also impresses with a honeycomb wall and a curious L-shaped sofa sprawled with colourful cushions.
Given the work pressure and stress that people go through every day, Rudra, Sweety and Mrinal wanted to offer a spacious getaway to the patrons where they can literally “empty” their heads to start afresh. We felt that the ambience and the music indeed would help many a work junkie to unload the stress for a while. And to add to that, they also keep hosting live music and stand-up gigs besides interesting Ladies Nights and other special events with popular DJs.
As we moved on to the gustatory experience, a look at the extensive menu gave us a fair idea of the delicacies that include almost everything for all kinds of palates. There are soups, salads, quick bites, Indian, Chinese and continental main courses, and not to forget some good ol’ desserts. To cool ourselves down, we sipped on four fresh, summery drinks - an Orange basil cooler, a Peach cucumber iced tea, an Apple ginger martini and a Grape valentine. These refreshing concoctions were instant mood lifters with their citrus notes.
As for the food, we decided to glaze through a variety of cuisines they serve, to get a hint of the distinct flavours. The two salads — Cottage cheese caesar salad and a Tandoori chicken salad — tasted decent and we loved the Tandoori chicken salad for its tasty strips of well-grilled chicken on a bed of crunchy greens. From the Chinese section, the Chinese cheese onion roll happens to be the chef ’s favourite. The little Onion-stuffed cigars, dunked in a sweet chilli sauce, and topped with grated cheese also turned into one of our favourites for their crispy, tangy and cheesy texture.
Moving on to the other savouries from the mains, you can definitely order the two variants of kebabs — Rajasthani alishan kebab and Gondhoraj fish tikka. While the succulent fish kebab absorbs all the spice notes adequately, the zesty chicken kebab will serenade you despite being high on the spice meter. To relieve and cool down your tastebuds, end on a sweet note with a bowl of ice cream, served with chocolate sauce — it never goes Lounging away wrong, right?
Pictures by Anindya Saha